Annas Anchor
A Glorious Ruction
Ooal records
https://annasanchor.bandcamp.com/album/a-glorious-ruction
Music is so much better when it means something. That can hold true for the listener or the creator.
Holding this piece of vinyl you can feel the love and creativity behind it.
With record shops being closed to the public my purchases are all being done online – our postal person is being kept busy. I’m brought back to a time when our postie arrived twice a day bringing gifts galore. Envelopes were designed and pieces of paper were crammed into envelopes advertising others zines and records and pieces of paper were used for handwritten notes. Those notes were so important to read. The written note is vanishing from our mail. Every time I open a delivery I search, mostly in vain, for that elusive piece of paper. Just a little hi, thanks would do. It personalises it but very few people write notes any more. I always make a point to put a note in with our books when people go out of their way to buy in and when I opened the envelope with Anna’s Anchor and a note from Marty fell out I knew this record was for me.
Marty Ryan is the instigator and the driving force of Anna’s Anchor. For this album he placed the anchor in the river Shannon and brought us on a journey. It is a journey he walks most days. With lockdown life we all probably have a similar walk, a daily grind we undertake to escape the banality of not being able to go beyond a 5km radius.
This is a concept album, a love song to Limerick and an ode to Marty’s city. The song titles reflect the points on his walks. The words are a reflection of his journey. Musically this is emotional pop, there’s Bright eyes appearing throughout in beautifully formed structures. Martys vision for Anna’s Anchor is to play honest songs for honest people. Some of these honest people have assisted in the journey. Be that his band mates in the Winter Passing or his DIYLK comrades.
While there is no ode to the Limerick Soviet of 1919 where a generalStrike was called and Limerick ran its own affairs, organised food and even printed its own money for a fortnight you can bet that Anna’s Anchor, along with Out On A Limb records would have been very much part of this movement. It is that spirit which pours through every note on this album. A spirit of Community and belonging. For wherever it is you come from.
Beautiful record
